A Low Maintenance Class Pets:
The whole concept is absurd, because in reality it means the already overcommitted teacher is now responsible for another living thing’s well being. I learned this the hard way my first year, as I tried to "be that teacher". Like most first year teachers, I was eager to to create memorable lessons and experiences, but I bit off a little more than I could chew. I'm a big time sentimentalist, and pulled from my own experiences with teachers to try to create a positive learning environment. I thought I would share a little bit about one of those attempts as a possible cautionary tale for any future first-time educators coming up.
Maryville Elementary Memories
Growing up in Granite City Illinois, I remember a fourth grade teacher at Maryville Elementary, named Mrs. Hodges. All of the younger students knew her as the “animal lady.” I think in my head it was as if Jane Goodall morphed into Mrs. Frizzle. I can remember as a younger student on very special occasions, going into her room and seeing all of her creatures; it was like a mini field trip in our own school as we went into the “older kids hallway”. Maybe it was the hot school days or flickering fluorescent lighting, but the room always seemed to have some kind of yellow mist that filled the concrete walled classroom. To be honest the room spelled like the herpetarium at the St. Louis Zoo, but it was the classroom every student wanted to be a part of in the fourth grade. The animals were organized on this cart with shelves in various containers. This shelf that homed her menagerie seemed massive to a younger kid, and I never got close enough to see all of its inhabitants. So yes, I may have romanticized the whole thing, but I was determined to at least try.
High Hopes
Fast forward to 2008. It was my first year teaching, and I was completely naive to the responsibility of having a class pet. My experience with fish at this point was a Beta my friend gave me on my birthday, but managed to live only six months. I was fresh out of college, I had thirteen students at that time. You will always remember your first class. Class of 2015, you are not forgotten! I also had some pretty amazing parents volunteers that year to make my idea happen. Someone donated the tank, and we acquired all the various supplies needed. We had two fish, and for a time life was very fine in room 102.
Growing Pains
In January of 2009, my classroom doubled, and it was during that time that the fish tank started to grow in its own way. By the second semester, we had added an algae eater, a few plants, and an oversized castle that stuck out at the top. It looked about as good as any sixth grade class aquarium could look. For Christmas, a student in the class had upgraded his own fish tank and offered to donate his larger, older one. Of course this also meant, with a larger tank it would allow more “friends” for our underwater zoo.
Naturally, if you are going to get a bigger tank, you need a bigger shelf. A parent donated a rolling kitchen island that suited us perfectly for the tank. The cabinet space served as great storage for supplies, and it was just the right height for students to watch their aquatic pets. Up until this point, I was pretty hands off when it came to adding to the tank. I had a parent who would clean it and then she took care of the fish actually inside the tank. Everything was fine until the one day I thought I would buy some fish.
It’s no secret that I have always loved Dalmatians, so when I heard about these Dalmatian guppies at the Louisville Feeders Supply, I knew we needed to have some for our aquarium. What I didn’t realize though was that all of the guppies in our tank up until this point were females, and I had brought to school a male. You can probably see where this is going.
One morning, when I turned on the aquarium light, I was shocked to see what looked like hundreds of little black eyed peas swarming in the aquarium. The students were just as excited as I was, and we were all planning on taking at least one home for ourselves. I felt like teacher of the year. All of that excitement quickly passed , when the next day I came in to to see hundreds of floating corpses in the tank. Apparently you are supposed to separate the babies for a time because some fish are cannibals- lesson learned. It was a pretty emotional experience for some of the students, and I pulled from The Cosby Show S1E2 “Goodbye Mr. Fish” for inspiration as we had a funeral for the fish lost in the mass homicide.
Things quieted down for a while in the room, and about a month later we had another set of baby guppies. Through quick thinking and having a plan, we managed to save two from another aquatic mass murder. However all of the excitement and turmoil was nothing compared to what was in store- snails.
Escargot Anyone?
Like Mrs. Hodges, over time some students would come and take a look at our aquarium. I felt pretty proud of our little tank, and loved the “visitors.” Well, one day I got an email from a very sweet family wishing to donate two snails to our class aquarium. I was told they were great at keeping the tank clean, and so I said, “Sure!” I’m the kind of person who really personifies all animals. We named every fish tank member, but it’s really hard to create an emotional connection with snails. They just cling to the side of the tank and move at an incredibly slow pace. It’s also awkward because because it's not much to look at.
So, once again I was surprised as one 6th grader blurted out in the middle of History class, “Mr. Astor! BABY SNAILS!” Yep, the two snails we received were in love, and there were hundred, and I do mean hundreds of their little bundles of joy floating everywhere. Somehow the most uninteresting two creatures in the whole tank, completely derailed my lesson on the Cold War. We couldn’t get rid of these little escargot seeds fast enough though. They just kept multiplying. Students throughout the school would bring in their old jello cups from lunch to take one or two home. Finally, I just gave all of them away. The summer came, and the parent who had taken alot of the responsibility of the aquarium took ownership of the fish tank, and I’m forever grateful. After that point, the only fish I had in the classroom was a beta and even that was like something out of a movie, but I’ll save that for another day.
